OK, so what does the Israel-Arab conflict have to do with living our best chapter? Everything. Because it’s about living our truth and not being afraid to speak up for what we believe in.

I came across Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s one-sided, lopsided, naïve plea to Israel that “Peace requires the people of Israel and Palestine to recognize the human being in themselves and each other; to understand their interdependence. Missiles, bombs and crude invective are not part of the solution. There is no military solution.”

Tell that to Islamic terrorists now operating around the world.

Yes, all of us living in Israel would love to lay down our arms and seek peace. We’d love not to send our children to war. We’d love not to have to build bomb shelters. We’d love for the Palestinians to agree to a peace accord in which Israel is allowed to remain a Jewish, democratic country. Will that happen? Well, let’s look at what’s happening in the real world.

Tragically, Tutu confuses Islamic terrorists with freedom fighters in South Africa. But Islamic terrorists (who provoked this war) are not freedom fighters but fighters for an Islamic state which denies freedom. Which is totalitarian, anti-civil rights, and anti-everything that Tutu stands for.

Let’s talk about Tutu’s preposterous idea that Israel is an “apartheid” state. That is absurd! So dangerous and wrong and a lie. Here’s an article about a Christian Arab woman elected to the Knesset, Israel’s governing body.

Here’s my article in the Huffington Post on diversity in Israel. (There’s more interactions among various religions than I ever encountered living in the USA)

Tutu writes about Israeli military attacks, but for the record, British Colonel Richard Kemp said the Israeli Army has made more attempts to avoid civilian casualties “than any other army in the history of warfare.”

What would happen if the Arab countries laid down their arms and declared peace? Israel would help build a flourishing, lively, vibrant, artistic, strong, democratic region. What would happen if Israel laid down its arms? We would be destroyed by Hezbollah, IS fighters and Hamas and Iranian-backed terrorists.

It’s what happened when Israel pulled out of Southern Lebanon in 2000. As soon as Israel left, Hezbollah terrorists backed by Iran (there is no other name for an organization with Naim Qassem, a leader, who says, “There is no solution to the conflict in this region except with the disappearance of Israel.”

What about Hamas and its view of peace? Its charter states, “There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility.”

So, is Tutu suggesting that Israel tries to make peace with people who don’t even believe in making peace with Israel?

I am all for a Palestine state to flourish in the West Bank and Gaza, alongside Israel.

Israel has consistently tried to make peace with its neighbors. The truth is that Arab countries don’t really care about returning to the 1967 borders. They care about returning to the 1947 borders—with no Israel. So, speaking out against Israel without mentioning or addressing this fact is dishonest.

Speaking of Iran, in the years since Iran became an Islamic State, what has it done to contribute to the world? Can anyone name one positive thing? One artistic achievement? One small step for womankind? One scientific contribution for something beyond its nuclear aims? And why doesn’t Tutu and other peace-seekers speak out when the Iran announces it will wipe Israel off the map? It’s all too reminiscent of the way world leaders reacted to Hitler, the man who couldn’t possibly mean that he wants to really kill Jews, the man with the funny mustache.

I could go on and on. Speaking up for Israel now is taking a brave stand against Islamic terrorists who, as Geerts Wilder points out, will take over Europe and turn all of Christian western society into a medieval wasteland. It’s happening already.

My question is this: why can there be 238 Christian countries and 48 Muslim countries? Look at the Swiss flag.

Now here’s the Pakistan flag.

So why are Jews not allowed to have their own country?

It ain’t just a symbol on a flag, I guess.

Israel for the record guarantees Arabs more freedom and civil rights than any Muslim country in the world. (Especially Muslim women!)

Tutu and other naive leaders who have fallen prey to the red-green alliance (the alliance of leftists with totalitarian Islamic movements) won’t say the Z word. Zionism means believing that Jews, like others in other national movements, have the right to self-determination and to have a Jewish, democratic state. Leftists won’t accept Zionism as a nationalist movement. They’ll say that they’re against being “anti-Jews” but they’re anti-Zionist, which, when you come down to it, is the same thing.

And why isn’t Tutu and others speaking out against the injustice within Gaza? The 160 children who were used as slave laborers to build the tunnels and died? The Christians who live in utter fear there? Why does he overlook the Hamas charter which calls on Israel’s destruction? And not just calling for a Palestine side by side with Israel but an eradication of Israel?

Why are there no rallies against the ISIS (now known as IS) murderers executing people?

Because…? Why no outrage over the 5-year-old Christian boy cut in half by Isis terrorists?

I know Israel is not a perfect country – no country is. But please, if you’re going to speak out to help Israel out of this quagmire, then speak out to leaders around the world to stop Islamic organizations from destroying any chance of peace. Archbishop Tutu, Israel is not South Africa. Hezbollah and Hamas and Iran and Afghanistan and Iraq and Saudi Arabia, etc. etc. are South Africa. Bring about peace by telling Islamic leaders what you told Israel,

“The real triumph of our peaceful settlement was that all felt included. And later, when we unveiled a constitution so tolerant, compassionate and inclusive that it would make God proud, we all felt liberated.”

Living our best chapter: Ayaan Hirsi Ali said, “Some things must be said, and there are times when silence becomes an accomplice to injustice.”

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About dianabletter

Diana Bletter is a writer living in Western Galilee. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, tabletmag, Glamour, The Forward, The North American Review, Times of Israel, and many other publications. Her first book, The Invisible Thread: A Portrait of Jewish American Women (with photographs by Lori Grinker) was nominated for a National Jewish Book Award. Her novel, A Remarkable Kindness, (HarperCollins) was published in 2015. She is the First Prize Winner of Family Circle Magazine's 2011 Fiction Contest and author of Big Up Yourself: It's About Time You Like Being You.

You are a voice of truth and experience, Diana. You words carry and authenticity and reality that makes a difference. I also read your Huffington Post piece and sent links to friends who are getting only the perspective of one certain news station.
Stay safe, dear Diana, and keep writing.

Ten Ways To Free the Creativity Within

1. Who you are is life’s gift to you. What you make of yourself is your gift back to life.
2. To be more you, be less you. Do the opposite of what you're used to doing.
3. Your personal record is against yourself and nobody else.
4. Fear is Forgetting Everything’s All Right
5. Put gratitude in your attitude.
6. Live in day-tight compartments.
7. When agitated, pause and breathe deep.
8. Remember the problem in front of you is never as large as the power behind you.
9. Take care of your mind, heart, body and soul each day.
10. You only get to live once and if you do it right, that’s enough.

Diana Bletter is a writer living in Western Galilee. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, tabletmag, Glamour, The Forward, The North American Review, Times of Israel, and many other publications. Her first book, The Invisible Thread: A Portrait of Jewish American Women (with photographs by Lori Grinker) was nominated for a National Jewish Book Award. Her novel, A Remarkable Kindness, (HarperCollins) was published in 2015. She is the First Prize Winner of Family Circle Magazine's 2011 Fiction Contest and author of Big Up Yourself: It's About Time You Like Being You.